Time Travel Tense Trouble (Superhero Black Hole, Pt. 46)

My apartment was, as it had been for so long a time, perpetually a mess. My desk was a case in point, littered with various 5D-DVDs: _Primer_, _Millennium_, the _Terminator_ movies (except the third), the _Back to the Future_ trilogy, _12 Monkeys_, _The Time Changer_, _Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home_, _Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure_, _Donnie Darko_, _et multa cetera_.

I opened the little vintage trunk I'd picked up during the late 1700s and extracted the briefcase that had been given me by Me₃. I displayed its anachronistic contents for Zoe.

"The vaccine," I explained. "One shot of this prevents time-travel abilities from manifesting. It's more than a bit gruesome, but effective. I was—" _Crap._ "—I'm supposed to stop her." I had hoped Zoe hadn't caught my slip-up.

She had.

"Wait," Zoe vocalized. "what do you mean, you were/are?"

I hung my head. "I…was there once, attempting to carry out my objective."

"Then what are you doing here?"

I swallowed. "It's because I'm a coward," I replied. "I failed."